Chapter 13: The Youngest Commander

A Warstar? Seriously?

All for a single vial of blood?

Lin Yu stared, dumbfounded.

Wasn’t this a bit too absurd?

Sure, Mu Qingxue was the first human to ever surpass 25% innate brain domain, but even so—could one vial of her blood really be enough to get a Warstar?

After all, the cost of just one Warstar was higher than that of ten battleships!

Even the First Fleet, the most powerful by far, only had eight battleships in total.

“General, can you really get a Warstar just like that?”

“What are you thinking?”

Seeing how fired up Lin Yu was, Mu Qingxue rolled her eyes—though she somehow made it look elegant.

“The deal back then was: if I managed to get promoted to major general, the Federation would custom-build a Warstar for me. On top of that, when I reached lieutenant general, they’d let me use that Warstar as the core to form a fully-equipped fleet.”

“So, they just hand it over to you right away?”

“Do you have any idea how long it takes to build a Warstar? Even the fastest ones take at least three years.”

“And why would you be given command of a Warstar if you haven’t reached general officer rank?”

“Even as a major general, it’s only possible because of my unique circumstances. Normally, you’d have to be at least a lieutenant general, no exceptions.”

“So, the conditions I negotiated back then were basically a promise for the future. To be honest, even without those promises, I was confident I could earn my Warstar and my own fleet—it’d just mean working for a few more years, that’s all.”

Hearing all this,

Lin Yu finally understood.

No wonder it sounded so crazy—swapping a vial of blood for a Warstar. It made no sense.

But when Mu Qingxue explained it like that, it suddenly felt reasonable.

Really, this was just like a tiered reward for realizing your potential.

Reach major general—get a special reward.

Reach lieutenant general—you get something even bigger.

Of course, you needed crazy talent in the first place. Swap anyone else in and…

No way they’d ever get such a promise.

“That stuff’s a long way off for you. For now, you need to focus on staying alive in this war and making yourself stand out!”

“Right now, it’s the toughest era for you, but at the same time…”

“It’s the best era too!”

“In times like these, maybe you’ll only need three to five years to reach the level I’m at now.”

“So put in the effort, rookie!”

As her words faded away,

Mu Qingxue walked off.

Lin Yu clenched his right fist tight.

She was right. For humanity, this was the darkest of times.

Alien civilizations invading—humanity now faced a critical fork in civilization’s future.

But for soldiers like Lin Yu, wasn’t this the best era too?

Sure, it might sound a bit strange, but that’s just the truth.

It had taken Mu Qingxue fourteen years to get where she was.

But now, in this era—

Maybe he really could reach those same heights in just three to five years!

——

Three hours later.

High Command conference room, Federation Fleet.

Three people sat at the table: Supreme Commander Mu Xingchen, Vice Commander Vladimir, and the other Vice Commander, Ryan.

Nearby, a holographic projection flickered, displaying one more figure.

It was the Federation President for this term: Friedrich, of German descent.

For two hundred years, the Federation had held onto an unspoken rule…

The ‘Big Three’ jointly commanded the Federation Fleet, while the Federation President came from outside the three, ensuring balance.

These four were the very top of the Federation’s leadership.

“Admiral Mu, is this… real?”

Friedrich was almost breathless with excitement after reading the report.

He knew exactly what those numbers meant.

On the other side of the table, Vladimir and Ryan were both green with envy.

Fourteen years ago, Mu Qingxue—she was Chinese.

Well, they could live with that.

But after fourteen years, shouldn’t it have been their turn by now?

So what happened?

Another miracle born in China—and this time the innate brain domain reached a ridiculous 32%?

How was that fair?

“Yes, it’s been confirmed—Mu Qingxue personally administered the tests!”

“By the way, Admiral Ryan, what do you plan to do about the Campbell situation?”

Mu Xingchen nodded to confirm.

Then he turned to look at Ryan.

After all, Stephen Campbell, the First Fleet’s commander, was one of his subordinates.

And if not for his actions, they almost would have lost someone vital to humanity’s future.

That… was almost enough to be called betrayal against humankind.

It practically crossed the line into treason.

“Hmph, whatever the rules demand, that’s what I’ll do. I won’t tolerate this!”

Ryan was fuming.

He honestly never thought Stephen would pull something like this.

And of all people, the target just had to be crucial to all humanity.

“But now isn’t the time to deal with Stephen. At this critical moment with alien invaders, removing the First Fleet’s commander—without being able to explain why—would only cause more problems.”

“Besides, Mu Qingxue also noted in her report that Lin Yu, because of George Campbell, doesn’t want the incident exposed.”

“So, my recommendation is to let Stephen remain as First Fleet commander until after the war—then we handle it.”

Mu Xingchen thought it over for a moment before speaking.

The others nodded in agreement.

They were right—from their point of view, now wasn’t the time for disciplinary action.

“Alright, next up: according to Mu Qingxue’s report, she’s requesting Lin Yu play a bigger role in this war, so she’s asking for a special wartime promotion under Article Three of the emergency supplement.”

With the previous topic settled,

Mu Xingchen raised the next issue.

“I’ve read Lieutenant General Mu Qingxue’s report. She wants to form a special strike fleet within the Fifth Fleet to operate independently in the Asteroid Belt if the Jupiter defense line falls.”

“But can Lin Yu really handle a role like that? No matter how special he is, at the end of the day…”

“He’s still just an eighteen-year-old fresh recruit!”

Vladimir made no attempt to hide his concerns.

“No, I see it differently!”

“Before this meeting, I spent two hours reviewing Lin Yu’s key simulation battles at the First Federation Advanced Military Academy.”

“Honestly, I was blown away!”

“If no one told me he was just a cadet, I’d have sworn he was a grizzled veteran commander.”

“To exaggerate a little, even if I went up against him myself, I might not come out on top.”

Tss…

Vladimir sucked in a cold breath at that.

He’d read the report before the meeting but hadn’t looked up any simulations himself.

But Ryan? He knew him all too well.

When it came to fleet command, Ryan was easily among the Federation’s top five.

So if even he said Lin Yu was that good…

“If Ryan thinks so highly of the kid… should we give him a shot?”

“Yeah. As for the promotion—let’s make him a lieutenant colonel, appoint him acting commander, and see how he does!”

“Sure, if no one disagrees, we’ll go with that.”

With that, Mu Xingchen made the final decision.

Even in the Fifth Fleet, it would be at least a year before this special strike force saw real combat.

So letting Lin Yu take the lead for now didn’t seem like much of a risk.

If it didn’t work, they’d still have time to swap him out for someone else, right?

As for the Federation President…

Sorry, but he was just a spectator here. The real power over fleet decisions lay elsewhere.

And so, the youngest lieutenant colonel in Federation history—barely eighteen years old—

was appointed in that very conference room…

right then and there!